1. Since ancient times, silver and gold have been regarded as a symbol of wealth together. The chemical symbol of silver is Ag, which comes from the Latin Argertum, meaning "light and brightness". Because silver is white, it is called "silver". Silver not only has good electrothermal conductivity, but also has high photosensitivity and luminous characteristics, and is used in industry, photography, jewelry, currency manufacturing and so on.
2. Compared with gold, silver was used to make coins more and earlier and entered the circulation field because of its large supply and low value. Many countries have established the silver standard and used silver coins as the mainstream currency. In ancient times, people knew about silver. Like gold, silver is a precious metal with a long history of application, which has a history of more than 4,000 years. Because of the unique and excellent characteristics of silver, people give it dual value of money and decoration. The pound and silver dollar used before the liberation of China were silver and copper alloys. 1 silver in Qing dynasty is equivalent to 400-500 yuan RMB today.
3. Silver is more active than gold. Although its abundance in the crust is about 15 times that of gold, it rarely exists as an element, so it was discovered later than gold. In ancient times, people already knew how to mine silver ore, because the amount of silver obtained at that time was very small, which made its value more expensive than gold. From BC 1780 to BC 1580, the Egyptian code stipulated that the value of silver was twice that of gold. Even in the17th century, the value of Japanese gold and silver was equal. Silver was first used as decorations and tableware, and later used as currency.
4. In ancient China, silver was often juxtaposed with gold and copper, which was called "the three products of gold". Gong Yu records that "gold is the only product", which shows that silver was discovered in China as early as the 23rd century BC, that is, more than 4,000 years ago. In nature, silver often exists in the form of pure silver. People once found a piece of pure silver weighing 13.5 tons! In addition, it also exists in the form of chloride and sulfide, and often coexists with minerals such as lead, copper, antimony and arsenic.